Recently, a reader commented on my post How To Get Rid of the Need to Be Right asking for recommendations on critical thinking books for kids. Given my three roles as a children's librarian, amateur philosopher, and parent, I thought I should write up a helpful post on the subject.

​Critical thinking seems to be a buzzword when used in the context of contemporary education, yet the skill is sorely lacking in society at large. Poor reasoning often dominates public discourse.

When I say critical thinking, strictly, I'm referring to logic, or the science of how arguments need to be formed in order to be reasonable or correct. I'm also referring more generally to skills like separating truth from falsehood, being able to accurately evaluate other's arguments, being open-minded, and thinking with greater distance (rather than from a dogmatic or emotionally driven mindset).​

What do we really need to be happy? According to ​Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero, not very much.

In a letter Cicero wrote while trying to arrange a visit with his new friend, fellow scholar Marcus Terentius Varro, he states: "If you have a garden in your library, we will want for nothing."[1]

Cicero and Varro were rich. Both owned various estates across Italy. He could have asked for, and expected, all of the luxuries common to his class - silk sheets, scented oils, the finest food and wine. Why did Cicero place such high importance on the garden and the library then? What is truly necessary for us to flourish in life? ​

Common Sense Ethics is now on Youtube! Most parents struggle to get their parenting ideals to match their every day family life. In response to my post from December, Brittany Polat of apparentstoic.com interviews me about how to create an ideal family culture based on Stoic and other philosophical virtues. We discuss:

How to make your ideal family culture part of your daily routine without making yourself crazy. ​

In a frenzy of excitement over the December release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (yes, I'm a nerd like that), I have been reading a lot of interviews and criticism of the film. This interview really got me thinking. Adam Driver (the actor who plays villain Kylo Ren) states: "In a lot of ways I don't really feel...as connected to my generation...I feel like there's need for discipline and not having a right answer and not having immediate access to everything." [Emphasis mine.]

Not having a right answer? Do Millennials really think that we are always right and that we know everything? Is this trait exclusive to the younger generations, or something common to humanity in general? Is being a know-it-all the result of being college educated? Propagandized? Am I guilty of this too? (Yes I must be...look at what I write about!)

Always thinking that you are right is a fault to be sure. It annoys others, inhibits curiosity and promotes myopia. If you think you already know something, then you are less likely to seek more information or to think critically, especially about your entrenched belief systems.So is there any way to avoid this personality flaw of know-it-all syndrome?What qualities can we cultivate in ourselves to combat always needing to have the right answer? ​

With the holidays coming up, many of us are focused on family. My recent post Why You Should Create Your Own Culture to Be Happier prompted a discussion on the Stoic Parents Facebook group about how to create a family culture. Family culture, (defined as the way that a group of people think, feel, act and achieve common goals)is tremendously influential. Creating an ideal culture for your family is something that must be done intentionally. Otherwise you will probably operate in default mode just trying to get things done each day since life with kids tends to be busy:

"Parents must decide what quality of family life they will have and then use the necessary discipline to accomplish this. Otherwise life will push the family in diverse directions...Those parents who have carefully examined their values and their view of life are going to be those whose influence on their children is most consistent. Why? Because what they believe is important to them...Our priorities are determined by our values." - Gladys Hunt, Honey for a Child's Heart.

You don't get a second chance at raising your children. Brainstorm what you ideally want for your family life, write it down, and then be disciplined enough to implement it. Build the various aspects of your ideal family culture into your routine and they will come naturally.It may help to think about your ideal family culture in terms of these four broad categories: ​​

Most of us want to think that we are a force for good in the world. But if we haven't done a lot of introspective work aimed at overcoming our own faults, it might be safer to assume that we are actually a force for chaos. Becoming virtuous usually involves self-discipline and a lot of difficult introspection.

Aristotle teaches us that those who are enslaved to passions, who never rise above their animal natures by practicing the virtues, do not have the most worthwhile opinions. Anger clouds good judgement. Those who exercise reason and attain practical wisdom on how to best live their own lives, order their household, and finally, when sufficiently wise and mature, should ideally venture opinions on how to best order the political community.

Jordan Peterson is a Canadian psychologist and professor at the University of Toronto.Peterson echos both Aristotle and the same sentiment that I wrote about in my post A Revolution Inside.He argues that unless we both understand and have control of our own negative qualities (or shadow self) we will project our worst impulses into the political arena while wearing a "mask of virtue."We need to work on ourselves first if we want to be an effective force for good and not end up doing more harm. If we want to see the world change, we must first concern ourselves with healing our own lives.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the nonsense bombarding us daily. Sometimes I think that mainstream American culture leaves a lot to be desired. Whenever I get disgusted, I'm reminded of Terrance McKenna's instructions:

“Culture is not your friend. Culture is for other people’s convenience and the convenience of various institutions, churches, companies, tax collection schemes, what have you. Culture insults you. It uses and abuses you. None of us are treated well by culture...We have to create culture, don’t watch TV, don’t read magazines, don’t even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow.”

McKenna is saying that if you don't consciously build your own meaningful culture in your life, it will be determined for you by dominant personalities, media, propaganda, peers, advertising, and all kinds of other capricious influences who have no business being in your head and determining your preferences and actions.

Life is short, and progress towards virtue is often time consuming and hard won. You should be very selective about what you devote your precious and limited time to. If you want to be happier, cut out expressions of culture that sabotage your happiness and personal growth, and deliberately create your own personal culture of beauty and meaning based on your values, rather than on other peoples'.​

Observe most political debates and you'll see people arguing based on how far to the "left," or the "right," they are. This left-right spectrum is uncritically applied as a basis for classifying types of governments and political ideologies - it has become the only popular framework that we have for evaluating politics.Seems harmless enough, right?

Except that the left-right spectrum is really a false dichotomy that renders the positions of both "sides," contradictory, while helping to control public debate. There are serious problems with the left-right spectrum as framework for understanding politics. ​A critical look reveals that the spectrum is incomplete, incoherent, leads to unnecessary polarization, and reinforces belief in hierarchy.

We need to confront the fact that the positions of both "sides," are riddled with contradictions. On this extremely flawed basis, people attack the so-called other side as though politics were some kind of team sport. In order to end such narrow and destructive partisanism, let's start thinking about whether the left-right spectrum is accurate rather than just assuming it is. (Hint: it's not, as we will see). ​